A drunken Russian snowplow driver at a Moscow airport caused a plane to crash that killed French oil giant Total CEO Christophe de Margerie.

Russia Today reports that, "It was determined in the course of the investigation into the Moscow plane crash that killed the CEO of French oil giant Total that the driver of the snowplow which likely caused the crash was drunk. “It has been determined that the driver of the snowplow was under the influence of alcohol,” head of Russia’s Investigative Committee Vladimir Markin told the reporters on Tuesday."

Dmitry Peskov, sokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, is quoted as saying that, "The president highly appreciated de Mergerie's business skills, his continued commitment to the development of not only bilateral Russian-French relations but also on multifaceted levels."

According to RT, "Markin added that “there is a possibility that a number of airport staff will be suspended from carrying out their duties pending criminal investigation.” During the taxiing before take-off, at around 0:10 am Moscow time on Tuesday, the Falcon 50 business jet hit a snow-clearing machine. Although previous reports indicated otherwise, the plane did not leave ground following the collision."